And here's the place to do just so! So first, I'd like to say, welcome, and give me your candy and no harm will happen to you or your imagination! :3 Bwahahaha!

EDIT: This topic will also now feature random polls every now and then, to keep us all entertained.

Onar's back (back), tell a friend!

Guess who's back and not black...

...

Anyway... Nice to see you've finally set up the game, and I have the first post that isn't you!

I'm a naughty boy...

Violating your forum...

You took this thread's virginity, you manwhore! :o

Glad to have ya back :3 *pats Onar and gives him a sugar-free cookie*

What kind of welcome is that?

Especially as payment for a manwhore... Gimme sugar, else be rid of my srervices!!!!

*takes cookies back, which were of course NOT sugar free, as there are no sugar free cookies in this world, it was merely a mind trick to make you give up the cookies, mwahahah!!*

*loves own mastermind*

MY COOKIE!!!!!!!!!!

Give it back...

N O W ! ! !

*snatches back MY cookies, and quickly consumes them*

XD just kidding. (i hope...)

-Lefty

*goes to secret lair filled with cookies!!!*

And darn, this place has been a bit slow... I think I need to pimp it some more :3 Mwahahah!

also, just a consideration and by no means a requirement... if you leave a review for the review game, write "review game!" at the top or something like that. :) just to advertise more. XD

-Lefty

How did you find The Review Game?

Thus, we would know how to pimp this place the right way! :D Am I genius, or what? Hm? Hmm? HMMM?

I for one found this place by making it. WOOT! WOOT! *is awesome*

-Lefty

Lefty? Watcha think? And will you do the honors? ^^

-Lefty

Also, the creator of the Review Revolution over here based it on a forum back at fanfictionnet (though I forgot what that one was called), so there already is one. I personally don't see anything wrong with spreading the review love, though. It also seem the Review Revolution over there had a daily basis review-process (because that is what Boss started out with). Don't take my word for it, though.

I suggest you try to look around at their forums for a bit, and if you can't find the forum: just go and do your version of Review Revolution ^^; It'd be more appropriate to ask this question over that the RR forum here, but Boss is missing and there is no one else in charge as far as I know... O.o

Nuthin' wrong with them review lovin' ^^;

As for what y'all were talkin 'bout...

I don't really have anything to say... sorry?

Anyways, yeah, how can I become a moderator?

-Lefty

*with tears in eyes*:

I feel so loved!!!

*recovers*

Where is Fill anyways?

No.

Lefty was incredibly active in the making of this forum. She is a regular participant of the review game. She has pimped this place. Thus, she is logically the best choice for a mod.

What qualifies you, Onar? I don't just employ people for no reason, ya know? Give me a good reason why *I* want *you* as a mod. Sell yourself!

:P

This ought to be interesting...

well, maybe... why does "onar" want the job...? what will she contribute? :) otherwise, i think it would be fine... right?

-Lefty

For the last time, people, I AM A GUY!!!

...

...

...

What will I contribute? A male perspective on all this, of course. No more neo- feminist B.S, an equal viewpoint on all things.

And infinite '**' jokes, as well as flirting with you ladies...

*Must... avoid perverted thoughts...*

this is getting a little weird.

sorry, i really didn't know whether you were a guy or not... i figured frac would know, so i copied off of her. =\ (oh wait, did she even call you a girl...? maybe not... sorry... XD) and come on, it's not like we can tell from your typing... you have no traits of a guy or a girl. XD (unlike frac and i...)

who says this is neo-feminist...? o.o? i mean... power to females and all, but guys can have power as well.

gah, this conversation is getting weird. XD i think i'll stop now before... we scare more people away...

-Lefty

While your persuasion skills are extraordinary, I think I might just have to turn down this offer *rolls eyes*

'Sides, you can offer all that being a mod or not. Har har.

And props to me, who knew you were a guy. Oh yeah. I am so awesome.

Or because of your secret crush on me...

I think your naughty messages are enough proof of your manhood . No lesbian is that gross :P

-Lefty

The hit count bit. The first chapter is pretty much guaranteed to have ten times more hits than any other chapter. This number will only increase as you add more chapters. There are two major contributing factors to this. One is that someone will click on your story, decide it's not for them, and leave. The other, big one, is that every time someone wants to read a later chapter they haven't read yet, they have to click on the first chapter first.

The review thing. The first chapter is also bound to have two to three times as many reviews. Some people just review to show that their reading, but don't actually review every chapter they read after that. Some people review just to get return reviews (especially if you advertise it), so they only read the first chapter. Some people will like your writing, offer a great concrit on the first chapter, but it may not just be the story for them. No matter how good your romance/fantasy/western story is, someone who doesn't realyly like romances/fantasies/westerns won't keep reading the whole thing. And many times, there are readers who read the first chapter, love the story, but just haven't gotten around to the rest yet.

This is pretty much true for most longer stories, and it's really not a big deal. Even some of the most popular stories have that discrepency. I admit that more than half the stories I've reviewed have only been the first chapter, usually because I liked the writing or it caught my interest, but just wasn't something I was into spending time reading.

So that's my thoughts on that.

generally speaking, people don't have boatloads of time on their hands. so when readers come across a long story (even if it catches interest) they generally don't have enough time to read all the chapters. at least... that's my problem. XD

but then i have a question... so say that you have... 30 hits on your latest chapter and no reviews on it. why might this be...?

-Lefty

Ifnobody's reviewing, it could simply be that the readers don't like your story and feel that they don't know you well enough to be confident to leave a flame.

Another reason could bethat the story doesn't have any real criticism that could be given. Maybe it's just one of thos things that nobody can come up with anything good(Or at all) to say about it.

I also want to comment on the problem of not reviewing past chapter one. I blame the Review game. Don't get me wrong here, I think its a good idea, just people are only reviewing for the sake of getting reviewed. If all someone wants is a review, they're not going to bother with further reading.

I do that a lot. I'll admit, I want reviews, but also on future chapters...

wait...

I just had an Idea!!

How about a review game for multiple chapters?

Yeah! that's it!!!

Review past the first chapter and recieve the same treatment. Read only asmany chapters as you want reviewed!!

How does that sound?(See, ladies, I have much to offer you, besides the obvious)

It's more like "Hey, I already reviewed the first chapter. Leave me alone. I just want to read on." I think story alerts and favourites matter as well then. At least it means they'll follow on to some extent.

I need validation, dammit!

so sorry... but uh... i don't really think we need another review game thread? maybe we'll see what frac thinks... :)

-Lefty

or not?

-Lefty

It's a much more active way of recieving reviews.

Onar, Onar, Onar...

While I do find your idea consider-worthy, if you want feedback on a SUGGESTION, you go to the SUGGESTION topic. I made that topic for a reason. I am insulted you ignore it. Hmpf.

All the same, I will ignore you back.

Ha.

:p

(that topic got no posts, dammit! *grr*)

As reviewers, you would come across good or bad stories. Do you find any common technical characteristics to each kind apart from good spelling and grammar. For example, do bad stories tend to have a specific recurring type of sentence construct? Do good stories tend to have longer words? Do bad stories tend to be made up almost entirely of dialogue?

What are your thoughts?

Most common mistake:

The "sentence opener"s are too static. Not enough variety! The "bad authors" usually start their sentences with nouns all the time, ie:

"HE took out his knife from his pocket and grinned. IT was a big knife and he was proud of its size. THE gang before him fled in fright"

Variation, please! ^^;

Also: Adverbs? Yeah. Not your friend. (though I am a hypocrite for saying that, har har)

So, for me, it's a lot more about the plot and the characters. Things that turn me off in that are:

- Main characters who just seem to be everything the writer wants to be

- Plots that sound like a television show (usually goes along with too many main characters)

- Plots that are based on or sound like an RPG (again, often has way too many main characters)

- Stories that immediately come off as an attempt to be like another well-known work of fiction

- Anything labeled as slash. I have nothing against same sex relationships, but almost always when something is labeled 'slash' it means overly-gorgeous men, gratuitous sex or sexual situations, and more often than not, written by a young girl who is obsessed with anime or the like, and has no experience to back up their writing.

Also, a lack of a summary. A writer who has some concept of the plot in the story should be able to summarize it even in a couple sentences. A good summary dosn't necessarily mean a good story, but a bad summary almost always means a bad story.

often in "bad" stories, there either ISN'T a plot (ie... the author just wants to write lemons or drugs or whatever), or there's a cliched plot (one that's been used before), or there's a potentially good plot that's pushed along either too fast or too slow.

i guess i can't say much about the pronoun thing... i do that all the time. XD i always start my sentences with "he" or "his" or "the"... oops...

but i agree with the adverb comment... too many adverbs definitely weigh down the prose.

i also agree with narc's summary comment... any summary that is "bad" or in which the author writes "i suck at summaries" (or something along those lines) is definitely setting up for a "bad" story.

-Lefty

ps: also, really shallow characters is another characteristic of weak stories. if readers can't relate to the character, or the character seems empty for some reason or another, it'll create a "bad" story... these characters often result from the "RPG-like" story, as narc pointed out.

See, I think finding the balance between everyday language and description is important- using literary techniques and extensive vocabulary I think shows the potential of an author...when I review I always like to look for signs of the extent of potential and base a critique on that- if a story reads like a script with awful spelling I get the feeling that any really extensive review I give would be the equivalent of banging my head on a brick wall and hoping that a mathematical equation falls out of my ear.

In bad stories with bad plots more often than not they haven't planned, or the plan they have is sentence...so the ending will be convoluted if there is an ending at all...without a plan it's also much easier to fall back into those comfortable clichés. Don’t get me wrong there are some good writers with a very strong natural gift for writing without plans (I'd love, love, love to be one of the them) but it's the exception not the rule.

Everything else just stems from the lack of plan really;

Characters need a plan...they need a life, some bad fic I get this feeling that a character has just been made the exact moment the story started (fine if they're born, not so fine anything else)and are therefore shallow...I'm a psychology student! So to me everything is relative in a childhood, even more so if your Freud and just weird! Plus, if you know where they're going in the story, it's so much easier to get an idea of who they are as your writing them.

PLAN! I just wish Fiction Press was like my English teacher so everyone had to submit a plan with every upload (I think maybe one-shots could be excluded, but only really the very short ones- if it has a plot it needs a plan)

There are some other things I don't mind so much...

Individual voice- in the professional world it's the narrative voice that sets a writer apart, but here I'm not massive on voice- you find your voice with practise and this is just a good place to get feedback on practise exercises...sometimes anyone who tries to put on a voice ends up just copying a well know author, which is just cringe-worthy.

Grammar- I suck at grammar, I basically got the whole speech comma rule about a week ago though I've read since I was a teeny tot, grammar just doesn't register properly with me so if a person's grammar is awful, unless the words are in the wrong place I'm not going to notice if the comma should be a semicolon...I should work on that and so should the writer but it's not going to affect the way I read.

Spelling- Americans spell wrong anyway (alminum...hahaha it's aluminium) so I'm not hung up too much on spelling- as long as I can see what it is I'll tolerate it, more than twenty mistakes per hundred words means I'm going to mention it though...I can't see how people don't use spellcheckers!

Sorry, didn't mean this to turn into a rant all about the benefits of planning (I really should have planned my reply)

about voice... i think even when you copy another writer's voice, you're still being original. i mean... i think it's really hard to copy someone's voice exactly, so of course there are going to be differences taht make you unique. also, i think that if you try to copy all of your favorite writers' voices, you'll create a whole new one that's uniquely your own... :)

and characters... i guess i don't really think them through. i develop them a little and then they just kind of... go. i should probably spend more time planning, as knittingkneedle said. :)

-Lefty

I like doing drawings of my characters too, though my art is generally awfuly if I'm not working with a fixed point of reference so I use bits and bobs from the models hair magazines usually and manipulate them into my characters. I feel like I'm creating my own mini Frankenstein's monsters hehe! My art is generally better than my writing so to get the idea of a scene I always draw it out- I remember I spent an age drawing a character's house and it boiled down to about a sentance of prose...but I suppose it's all relative.

If I used all the material that I need to make a story then it would be about twice the size.

God sometimes I wish I could be one of those writers who just 'get in a zone'...I might actually have time to do my homework!

Usually, though, I write everything out by hand first. It feels good, what with a greater connection to the words and all, and I type slowly as all hell... not to mention my limeted computer access...

And the lack of spell-check? Most likely, these people aren't using word, or any program with a spell-checker. I know that that's my reason...

Just about every complaint y'all had about "bad stories" describes my writing in one facet or another...

...

I SHOULD be offended...

...

...

but I'm not...

I'm re-working just about everything as we speak anyway.

1. Forums are not to be used to post stories.
2. All discussions, language and content, must be suitable for teens.
3. The owner/moderator(s) of this forum is solely responsible for content posted within this area.
4. All forum abuse must be reported to the moderator(s).

1. Forum admin/moderator
2. Fanatic (on site for more than 2 years)
3. Fan (on site for more than a year)
4. Regular (on site for more than 6 months)
5. Camper (on site for more than a month)
6. Apprentice (on site for more than a week)
7. Newbie (on site for less than a week)